RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE

RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE (1961). Director: Jose Ferrer.

In this sequel to Peyton Place, Allison MacKenzie (now played by Carol Lynley) goes to New York with her roman a clef manuscript about the town she grew up in, and falls for her handsome married publisher (Jeff Chandler). Her mother Constance is now married to Mike Rossi (these two are now played by Eleanor Parker and Robert Sterling of Topper TV series fame), and while mama is appalled, Mike wants to place the book in the school library. Selena (now played by Tuesday Weld) is mortified that Allison chose to write about her rape and subsequent trial in her novel, and Roberta Carter (Mary Astor) is outraged that the principal wants to put his step-daughter's filthy book in the library where anyone could read it. 

Mary Astor, Brett Halsey, Luciana Paluzzi

Brett Halsey is Roberta's son Ted, who shows up with a new wife (Luciana Paluzzi, who later did Thunderball) in tow. Meanwhile Selena meets a guy named Nils (Gunnar Hellstrom). (They ignore the fact that Selena and Ted were not just friends but were once engaged). The acting is good and there are a few surprises. Although few would argue that Eleanor Parker was a more talented actress than Lana Turner (despite the latter's fine stint in A Life of Her Own), Turner was actually more suitable for the role of Constance Mackenzie (and it doesn't help that Parker is doing one of her "actressy" turns). Brett Halsey comes off better than usual. It's absolutely no surprise, however, that the whole movie is positively stolen by the superb performance of Mary Astor, who gives the entire cast and everyone who sees the film a lesson in sharp and superlative thesping.

Verdict: A pleasant return to old Sin City. ***.

THRILLER SEASON 2

THRILLER Season 2. 1961. 

Boris Karloff was back as the dignified but figuratively winking host of the hour-long Thriller during its second season. Some of the "black comedy" introductions resembled the sort of thing Hitchcock did over on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Highlights of the second season include: "The Return of Andrew Bentley," based on a tale by August Derleth; "Waxworks," a Robert Bloch tale with Martin Kosleck and Oscar Homolka; "La Strega," a tale of a witch starring Ursula Andress which is notable primarily for Morton Stevens' scoring; "the grotesque "A Wig for Miss DeVore," also based on a tale by Derleth; and "An Attractive Family" featuring a group of charming sociopaths. "Cousin Tundifer" is a delicious black comedy with Edward Andrews going back in time to try to get rid of a wealthy uncle. "The Incredible Doktor Markeson," another Derleth story, stars Karloff as a doctor who successfully brings people back from the dead. 

"Flowers of Evil" presents Luciana Palazzi as a kind of black widow murderess whose husband worked in a morgue. "Kill My Love" features Richard Carlson giving possibly his most memorable performance as a man driven to murder until his actions even horrify himself. "Lethal Ladies" is a two-part tale [based on stories by Joseph Payne Brennan] in which Howard Morris and Rosemary Murphy -- who play different characters in each episode -- so lose themselves in their roles that the viewer is completely unaware that it's the same actors in each story [wife vs. philandering husband; mousy librarian vs. new boss]. "A Third for Pinochle" is another amusing tale with Edward Andrews' plans to murder his wife stymied by the two biddies who live across the street. Perhaps the best season 2 episode is "Guillotine," directed by Ida Lupino from a story by Cornell Woolrich, in which a woman poisons a headsman to prevent him from lopping off her lover's head -- but will he drop dead before he can do the deed? Clever -- and very, very suspenseful. 

Verdict: Really a great old series. ***1/2. NOTE: Click here to read about season 1.

TO TRAP A SPY

TO TRAP A SPY (1964). Director: Don Medford. 

"What's that got to do with me? I'm just a housewife with two children." 

Before the sixties spy show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. hit the airwaves, a pilot episode was filmed under the name Solo. When the show became a big hit, it was decided to increase the coffers a bit by expanding the first episode into feature-length and releasing it to theaters in color instead of black and white as it was shown on TV. To further make it a little different, it was decided to use the Solo pilot instead of the subsequent U.N.C.L.E. episode [Both of which were "The Vulcan Affair" with some changes]. Therefore the sinister organization in To Trap a Spy isn't Thrush but Wasp, and Solo's boss isn't Alexander Waverly but Mr. Allison (Will Kuluva). Sexy Luciana Paluzzi, who was a hit woman in Thunderball, figures in the added footage, which includes an after-bedroom scene with Solo. [Actually Paluzzi gives a good and more nuanced performance than she did in the Bond film.] 

The plot has Solo (an excellent Robert Vaughn as a very classy spy) importuning a pretty housewife, Elaine May Bender (an equally good Patricia Crowley) to distract old boyfriend Andrew Vulcan (Fritz Weaver), who is planning an assassination of African dignitary Ashumen (William Marshall). But things are never as they seem, and complications arise, leading to desperate circumstances for Solo and the fish-out-of-water Elaine. Weaver and Marshall are both in good form, and Kuluva, frankly, makes a more realistic head of a super-spy agency than the lovable but rather dithery Leo G. Carroll. Some very good scenes and Vaughn and Paluzzi especially play well together. NOTE: David McCallum/Ilya doesn't have much to do in this. Click here for more on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 

Verdict: The Birth of UNCLE. ***.

THUNDERBALL

THUNDERBALL (1965). Director: Terence Young.

Overlong but generally very entertaining Bond film is a handsome production with excellent photography and some great set-pieces. SPECTRE, headed by an unseen Blofeld (voice of Dr. No's Joseph Wiseman), assigns Number 2, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), to arrange the theft of two atom bombs with which to blackmail the world's governments into a huge pay-off. Bond, accompanied by Felix Leiter (Rick Van Nutter) and female agent Paula (Martine Beswick) travels to Nassau to investigate Largo, where he meets the man's beautiful mistress Domino (Claudine Auger), who winds up helping him. The theme song, sung with zest by Tom Jones, is memorable, as is the prologue sequence, wherein Bond exposes and kills an enemy agent who attends his own funeral in drag. The bit with the sharks in Largo's swimming pool that eat a couple of his henchmen and nearly munch on Bond, is interesting, and the finale on the speeding, runaway hydrofoil is thrilling [none of these sequences are in Fleming's novel; neither is Bond's souped-up car or the lady assassin, Fiona (Luciana Paluzzi)]. 

Another change from the novel is that Domino's late brother is a good guy. He doesn't steal the atom bombs and kill his colleagues, but is murdered by Fiona and replaced by a double.

Thunderball is a nearly excellent 007 adventure but it does have its detractors. Sometimes the music, while attractive, is much too languid for an action picture, making the pace seem slow. It doesn't help that some sequences could certainly have been trimmed. The sequence when Largo and his men recover and move the bombs from the downed plane goes on forever, for instance. Another problem is that Claudine Auger, while competent enough as Domino, exhibits little personality [Paluzzi is much better as the evil hit woman]. Adolfo Celi is somewhat striking and dynamic as Largo, but his performance isn't that great. Of the supporting cast, Martine Beswick makes the best impression, but she has little to do and is quickly killed off [she also appeared in From Russia with Love as one of the battling gypsy women]. There are a couple of dumb moments. In the novel the lovely gal at the Shrublands health spa uses a mink glove to soothe Bond's muscles after his “accident” on the rack (a well done sequence in the movie). In the film, Bond uses the mink glove on her and tells her how soothing it is as if it's his glove that he carries around in his luggage. When Bond tries to convince Domino how evil Largo is, he says “Largo had him [your brother] murdered – or it was on his orders.” Of course, that means the same thing. What Bond really meant was “Largo killed your brother – or it was on his orders.” Thunderball was remade as Never Say Never Again with the same star.

Verdict: Whatever its flaws, Thunderball is one of the best of the Sean Connery Bond adventures. ***.